Who's that girl?!?!

If you've just stumbled across here, you are probably wondering just who is the girl behind this blog...

I'm a 26 year old southern, conservative, daddy's girl. Born in North Carolina, but grew up in Virginia. Earned my BS in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Crime Scene Investigation from VCU. Of course, I'm not using my degree... does anyone?!?! I'd love to go back and get my Master's. Currently work in Customer Service for a family owned business here in Virginia. Love trying new things, meeting new people and traveling to different places. My passion is event planning... which would be my DREAM job. I'll stop now because I could go on and on and on... but im sure lots of things will come out in later posts. It's always good to keep people guessing.

Oh...last but not least.... I have a wonderful fiance' and furbaby. both of whom you will meet soon. :)

Respondez, s'il vous plait

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And I'm not talking about RSVPs.

My biggest pet peeve, and one that is getting bigger as we start contacting vendors, is communication. Especially people NOT responding to an email. I mean we are potentially going to spend a good deal of money for your services. Is a response too much to ask for?

Email has become my preferred method of contact. My job has me on the phone about 80% of the work day. When I get home, the last thing I want to do is be on the phone. And written word allows you to better outline and explain things.

That was the main reason we decided not to go with the Williamsburg Winery. Dont you know the Event Coordinator had the nerve to ask me to call her and let her know when I had emailed her. Are you serious? Last time I checked I wasnt employed as your assistant. Oh, and dont try to lie about it either -- she had the nerve to do that as well. Dont waste your breath because I dont have time for that non-sense. I gladly emailed her to let her know that we had decided on a different venue and that she could release the hold we had on a date with them. I hope she got the email since I didnt call to let her know that I had sent it.

I've also experienced a similar issue with the restaurant that we want to have our rehearsal dinner at. The main thing that irritates me about this one is, if you are going to post an email address on your website, respond to those people who use it. I dont need a full blown email with all the information immediately. I understand that people are busy... I am too. But a quick reply saying that you received my email and will send me information shortly will appease me.

I work in Customer Service and it has always been something that I work very hard at -- assuring people that I received their email and that if I can't help them right away, they know that I will get to them as soon as I can.

It's just good customer service and it keeps me from looking at #2 and/or #3 on our list of vendors. Thankfully, it has only been those 2, because I really hope it doesnt become a trend.

Meet The Family...

the WHOLE family.
This Christmas was a big one for us. It's our engaged Christmas. And it's the Christmas when Justin met my whole family (minus my Mom who lives in Texas and Granny Hayes who lives in North Carolina). I have to admit I was a little worried that it would be overwhelming. I come from a medium sized family -- my dad, stepmom, stepsister, stepbrother, grandpa, aunt & uncle and 2 sisters, plus my mom, granny and 2 uncles. Justin comes from a smaller family and he's an only child. I know I would be nervous and overwhelmed. I could probably relate it to the first day of sorority. AHHHH!


I must say that Justin seemed to be alright after we visited my dad's and then my grandpa's. And everyone in my family behaved! Yay... I'm glad that hurdle has been crossed.

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Merry Christmas

Just a few pictures from Christmas 09. It was a great Christmas, but I'm glad it's over. Time to get back to planning our wedding!

Cookie Monster

This weekend I was a cookie making machine. Justin asked me to put together some goodies to go with the gifts that he was giving his team at work, and I found 2 recipes I wanted to try:

Popcorn Cookies



and Oatmeal Raisin Sandwich Cookies

I bought these really cute cookie tins from Michael's for $1.25 a piece

I filled them with tissue paper to match the tin and then filled them with cookies

Almost A White Christmas

We got about an inch in Newport News Saturday night. It was all melted by noon Sunday. :(

That's our Maddie. She loves snow!

Swatches & Samples

Last weekend, I caught wedding fever -- probably from watching all of my favorite wedding shows on tv. Ive been eyeing a dress at JCrew for my bridesmaids and because you cant trust the color on the computer screen to be true, I emailed to get some fabric swatches. And I am so glad that I did.

Here is the dress... Silk Chiffon Juliet Dress in Spiced Wine -- the color closest to what I was originally thinking

The swatch however came out a little lighter than I like, but the material is silk chiffon, so there will be a liner underneath. I wonder if that will make it more the color I'm looking for?!?! The main problem is that JCrew only has a few stores that have their wedding collection in the store and the closest one to me is DC -- a good 4 hours away. I guess we'll have to make a trip up there in the new year.

Along with the dress, I also started looking at invitations. Cards & Pockets was a site that I have seen on a ton of other blogs so I decided to take a peak. We havent even designed our save the dates, but its never too early to start getting ideas for the invites. Once I got to the site -- WOW... was all I could say. There are so many options and colors -- how to choose?!?!

Well, since im an organizing freak, I've fallen in love with pocket folds. The Perfectto pocket fold is my favorite. So, like with the b*maids dresses, I wanted some samples. I ordered 6 samples, and I love love love 4 of them: Pansy, Black Raspberry, Pistachio & Grasshopper Pie. Now that I had picked out the ones I liked, I went online to make sure they were offered in how I would want them: Pansy for the pocketfold and Grasshopper Pie for the mat. Uh Oh! Pansy isnt offered as a pocketfold. That's ok...back to the drawing board. According to the sample and fabric swatch, the Black Raspberry would match the Spiced Wine of the b*maids dresses. It's an option, but I am going to inquire about the possibility of Pansy being made into a pocketfold.

Wedding Nightmare

No, it's not anything to do with our actual wedding or planning. The other night I had a dream about our wedding. It's the first one I can remember having, but none the less it was definitely memorable. Usually my nights are spent with hours of reading wedding blogs, searching wedding sites and stalking facebook friend's wedding pictures. So when it comes time for bed, I toss and turn because so many wedding ideas are running through my head.

My dream was about the guest of an invited guest -- you know the one who you wouldnt have invited if you knew them. I'm sure my dream has been many bride's reality.

This is how it played out...

The ceremony was over. The guests had moved on to the cocktail hour while the bridal party and family were off to take pictures. When we finished, everyone moved on to dinner. Everyone was enjoying the reception, when a guest started getting loud and rude. She was creating a scene about a fork and how she had asked for a fork a few times, but never got it. By then, the other guests had become quiet. That's when Bridezilla arrived. I had had enough, I walked over to her and told her that she already had a fork and that if she didnt shut up about it the fork was going to end up somewhere I dont think she would have liked. Then I woke up.

I laugh everytime I think about the dream, because those who know me best know that is definitely something I would have said. Maybe its some kind of foreshadowing, so that when we finalize our guest list, we check it twice to make sure we dont end up with one of these at our wedding.

Did you have any wedding nightmares -- either real or in your dreams?

Ready, Set... Plan

It was only a few days before I was at Target buying supplies for my wedding notebook. I got a purple binder (my favorite color and a color that will be seen throughout the wedding), notebook paper, page protectors and dividers. Then I was on to Barnes & Noble to pick up a few wedding magazines. The 2 I selected were:

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When I got home, I situated myself on the couch and my wedding planning supplies on the coffee table. It wasnt long before my binder was together, dividers labeled and ripped out pages put in the page protectors. I've got 13 sections:

* Master Lists
* Venue
* Reception & Caterer Info
* Bridal Party
* Guests
* Stationery
* Photography
* Flowers
* Cake - Wedding & Groom's
* Weekend of Info
* Wedding Projects
* Wedding Timeline/Schedule
* Honeymoon

Everytime I go through my notebook, I feel like I need to have another section, but I've tried to keep similar things together and under a general heading. It's my OCD and Anal Retintiveness... it's a "disease" that controls my life!

Location, Location, Location

*So to start I just want to say that I've been lazy with posting and I promise to do better.

I've got GREAT news... we have a venue for our wedding ceremony & reception AND we have a date -- Saturday September 25 2010!!!

The night we got engaged the first thing we talked about was where do we want to get married. At the beginning we tossed around the idea of doing it in Williamsburg, VA. Its the perfect medium for us and our families. After a very disappointing meeting with the Event Coordinator at the Williamsburg Winery, we decided to expand our search to include Richmond, VA. Ever since we moved out of Richmond, we've missed it -- it's all we talk about; how much we miss our friends, the city, the restaurants, and all the other great things we took for granted. So after doing a little searching with my MOH, we had a list of 10 places. I presented my list to the boy over the weekend. The one that stuck out the most was The Valentine Museum. On paper it looked perfect. The venue was right, the location was right, the price was right... so on Monday I left a message for the Wedding Coordinator. She was in touch on Wednesday and we set up our meeting/walk through for Saturday, November 21st. As I got off the phone, I was already feeling this was going to go much better than the winery meeting.

On Saturday, the boy and I got up and headed back to the RIC for our meeting. Walking up to the Valentine, I was already falling in love. We even started talking about what pictures we would take out front. We hadnt even set one foot inside and we were already planning our pictures?!?! I think we were on to something.

Stepping inside, it was another story. I mean it's a museum. You cant really picture a wedding in a museum, but then we walked out to the garden.

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Let me tell you... I was sold. It was beautiful even in November. Again we found ourselves talking about things like where we would put the cake, where I would walk in from, where we thought the food and bar would go best, etc. I was like a kid in a candy store. The whole meeting I know I was grinning from ear to ear. When the WC ended the meeting she was shocked when we said we were ready to have the contract drawn up.

I am so happy that we found the perfect location for our wedding and the garden & patio will be the site for both our ceremony & reception.

Everything happens for a reason and I think the winery not working out was a blessing. We get to have our wedding in the city that we have shared so many memories in :)

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October 10, 2009

We're ENGAGED!!!

Ok... lets back up a little bit. Justin and I moved to Newport News, VA from Richmond, VA in July of this year when he received a promotion to be the Store Manager at the Target here. A lot of people thought I was crazy for just up and moving; especially without a ring. But I was in no rush for a ring and I knew that Justin and I would eventually be at that point. So of course I said ok when he told me that his promotion was going to take him out of Richmond and we would be moving.

We have been in Newport News for a few months and I of course had started dropping hints about engagement rings and bringing up topics of marriage. And being the sleuth that I am... it was nothing when I picked up on little things that were "different" with Justin's attitude and how he was acting. He started being a little more huggy and kissy and would make comments about engagement rings and I knew that it was coming soon.

So in September, when we took our annual beach trip to Southern Shores, NC I was 100% sure the proposal was coming. Melissa, my big sister in sorority, can tell you that I was getting all worked up over it. I even told her before we left for the beach that I thought he was going to do it then. So the week went on and anytime Justin said something about walking on the beach at sunset or pouring glasses of champagne for no reason my stomach flipped and flopped into knots. Well the week came and went and there was no proposal... no ring. I was completely bummed. So life went on with no ring.

The day Justin proposed was like any other Saturday for us. We got up and ran our errands at Target and Fresh Market. At 10, we had to pay a visit to our apartments rental office to handle some things with our account. Then we left for the Farmer's Market in Williamsburg -- something we do often, like once a month. We visited some of our favorite vendors and bought veggies and other things for dinner for the week. Then we had lunch at The Trellis and went over the map for Colonial Williamsburg. It was drizzling, but we still decided to walk around. We even bought annual passes so that we could come back if we wanted to for the Christmas decorations and if we ever needed something to do. We were walking around and being a Saturday it was full of people so it took us a while to get away from the crowds of people. On our way to the some of the sites on the outer part of colonial williamsburg we walked by this patch of bamboo that had grown up by one of the colonial houses. And in the middle there was a path. When we came back through that area, Justin insisted that we look at what was in the bamboo. Me, being my usual self, said something like "there's nothing in the bamboo" but of course followed him in. So there I am standing in the middle of this bamboo area and I turned around to see if Justin was ready to leave and he started fumbling with his pocket. And the first thing I said was, "are you kidding me?" I knew right away what was happening. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. OF COURSE were the words that came out of my mouth. I was in complete shock. I was laughing/crying/shaking and somehow managed to slip the ring on my finger. OMG... what I had been waiting for was finally here and the ring was BEAUTIFUL.

Oh... and the ring... he did that all on his own -- and I think with some help from his Mom.

And so our journey to "I Do" begins...

Im a blogger?!?!

Hello Blogging World!

I never expected to get into blogging, but I think it's going to be something I will like. And since family and friends live all over the place, it will be a great way to keep them updated with whats going on in Justin's and my lives -- especially our wedding!!!

I definitely didnt expect that when I started researching for wedding info that I would be directed to so many blogs, but every one of them has been extremely helpful... so maybe someone will get something out of mine as well. I have to admit that a college friend of mine, Stephanie, and her blog I Do at the Zoo has been an inspiration for me. I love reading her posts and cant wait to share mine with her. :)

So here we go...

and please be patient as this is a work in progress and I promise it will get better as I go along.